Many people ask me this question. Literally translated from the French, en plein air, it means in open air. It began in the late 1800s with Impressionist painters such as Monet, Pisarro and Renoir. Before them, oil painters had to grind and mix their own pigments in the studio. Now the artists were freed to take their paints and canvases outdoors. The color and temporal qualities of painting in the open air dramatically changed the way they painted. (continue reading…)